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“Tate, I’m sorry, Hawke shouldn’t have threatened you”

I wasn’t sure if I ed to respond in any kind of way because I was still reeling from what Hawke had said Not only had Buck and Denny murdered Hawke’s wife, they’d stolen the life of his unborn son too I feltand I briefly wondered if I would have to ask Ronan where the nearest bathroom was

“I knoke, Tate It was an eh with it But if it o away,” Ronan said

I had no idea how thelike that and I realized it didn’t really matter Like with Hawke, I was completely out of my element “No, he and I…we have a deal I need to keep up my end”

“What kind of deal?” Ronan asked

But instead of answering Ronan, I shook h I had no idea why I didn’t oke anything

“He offered you so, didn’t he?”

“I should get back to Matty,” I whispered, but Ronan gently grabbed et away from him

“You and Matty are safe now, Tate Money, protection, support…you have all those things here”

I looked up at him at that “Why? You don’t know me”

Ronan released my arm “Seth and I both know you We were you”

I didn’t knohat to make of the cryptic stateht up in everything that had happened in the last few days - hell, within the last few hours - to actually want to try and understand it “I should get that release form done,” I said quietly

“Sure, my laptop’s in the kitchen” I followed Ronan out of the hallway, but hts were still on Hawke and I wondered what the hell I was supposed to do next

My liish as the barista handed me my coffee The small coffee stand near the entrance of the hospital had been a blessing in disguise because I couldn’t stoe they served in the cafeteria I was onwhen I’d left the hospital to go back to the hotel to shower and change and try to grab a few hours of sleep

It had only been ten days since Matty had been ad at Seth and Ronan’s house, I’d taken Matty to the children’s hospital in Seattle I’d expected to et up the nerve to ask Ronan and Seth if they had a car I could borrohen Seth had knocked on the bedroo and had asked if he and Ronan could coether at that point because I hadn’t been at all prepared to try to deal with understanding all the infor at me to explain the treatment plan for the next six months

Ronan had driven us to the hospital and he’d kept Matty entertained on the ferry to the mainland while I’d had a chance to talk to Seth I hadn’t seen Hawke since the day before when he’d storym On the one hand, I’d been relieved because I wasn’t sure when Haas going to insist that I keep up my end of the deal On the other hand, I’d h I had no idea why

The visit with Matty’s new oncologist had gone well and Ronan had stayed with ht of while Seth kept Matty busy by playing with hiloss over the seriousness of Matty’s illness, but he’d been very optimistic that Matty would respond to treatht the disease so early After the appointo down to the waterfront for lunch Matty had had a chance to play the various arcade ga as the restaurant and then we’d explored the aquarium The fun had continued once we’d returned to the house on Whidbey Island and by the tis on the patio, Matty had barely been able to keep his eyes open I’d put him to bed shortly after that and had used the quiet time to explain to Matty that he was sick and would need to spend some time in the hospital I wasn’t sure how much Matty had really understood, but it hadn’t mattered because just before he’d drifted off to sleep, he’dbetter even when they got hurt